The lesson I took home from this was the utter hypocrisy and perversion of religion that exists in Nigerian society. Or is it perversion? After all, the Bible and the Quran both say gayness is forbidden. But the bible also says wearing a cloth stitched from two different materials is completely forbidden, lol. I don't see religious maniacs emoting about this though.
This is the mentality Adrian has to deal with, an utter refusal to see humanity and vulnerability in favour of rigid rules devised millenia ago.
His life spirals out of control after someone reveals his secret. Work, family, acquaintances react with horror and take action in various ways to try to blot out this stain on God's earth.
I learnt something else. The local cops wouldn't be interested in a gay victim. A homophobic murder goes unpunished. A vicious whipping cannot be punished.
The cast were adequate to their task as all had reasonably good English language skills. However, learning and reciting lines in a foreign language is never going to be as convincing as doing them in one's own and I wonder why a local dialect wasn't used. Perhaps they wouldn't have been able to gather enough of the cast together using one of the local tongues.
This film was applicable to an extremely small subset of Nigerian society, namely the upper middle class. There wouldn't have been the discussions and agonising in ninety five per cent of the population. Nor would there have been a gay support network that Adrian was able partly to rely on.
So to wind up, this was a brave attempt to address a difficult subject. It held my attention and I'm glad I watched it. Not a masterpiece though.
